Assumptions
by 1tenaj
Summary: What if Ariel's desire to become a human was not just based on love, but also on fear? What if Ursula wasn't the only antagonist in this book?Rated M for some violence and a rather dark theme.
1. Note

Hey guys! I know it's been almost a year but what with school and other events I was unavoidably busy for a few months. After that I came back and checked out my stories and I realized that they are not the quality of writing that I want to put out there. Been working on it ever since and hopefully there'll be a long overdue restart.


	2. Presents

"_Ssssh, she's coming!"_

_"__Get under the table!"_

_"__Ariana, get off my tail!"_

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARIEL!"

The shouted chorus dissolved into a muddle of hugs and congratulations. Alice noted with satisfaction how surprised and strangely teary her youngest sister looked today.

"We're gonna take you out on a mermaids' day today. It's not every day you turn 16!" Alice wrapped her arms around Ariel, eliciting what almost sounded like a gasp. The older girl straightened back with concern. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing! Nothing, I'm fine. It's really great, actually, because there's this new fabric I saw somewhere that would look really great for a shirt and-"

"Oh yes, all these shirts that you were, Miss Prude," Alice teased. "How are you ever going to hook yourself a merman without showing some skin?"

Their other ten siblings gathered around and Ariel's reply was lost in the lively chatter and debate about exactly what the perfect day should be.

They all just assumed she was modest.

Even Alice never suspected anything, although she was the most curious and the smartest of her sisters. She was a princess, so no one ever questioned it when she started wearing shirts as a 13 year old. _Why should they?_ Ariel thought.

The moment she entered the dining hall her sisters pounced on her, yelling something unintelligible in a frenzy of excitement. _What's happening today?_ Ariel wondered. Then she remembered. It was her birthday.

Only one member of her family was absent from the room, and some of the tension left her body. She _hated_ having to meet his eyes normally, as though nothing had happened the night before.

_She _hated_ herself for following his orders, but the last time she had refused to come, he had knocked down her bedroom door and, muffling her already silent scream, dragged her out of the palace. She'd been forced to stay in her room for the next two days, faking an illness. Still, she got a perverse sense of satisfaction out of not coming to him like an obedient puppy, proving to both of them that this was wrong. The events of last week had her sore enough not to repeat her acts of defiance._

_"__Princess Ariel,"—he spit out her name every time as if he wasn't the one to name her, hold her, raise her during her first twelve years—"You are guilty of the worst crime that can be committed in the sea. You are guilty of murder, of treason, through your killing of the Queen Amphitrite. The severity of these actions merits you unworthy of such a light and painless death when her last moments were torture. Instead, you will come to your king every time you do her memory an offense and you will be punished by my hand accordingly."_

_Ariel wanted to reason him, telling him that it wasn't her fault, that death during childbirth didn't mean that the result of the process was to blame; but she had tried that many times before, and it did much more harm than good. Instead she hardened her face into a mask as her father drew out a whip. The whip._

_It was obvious why Triton always picked such remote places when the echoes of her screams could be heard from a mile away._

When Alice hugged her she struggled to hold back a whimper, even though she had padding over the injuries which adorned her back and lower torso.

"Ariel, darling?"

Her sisters were all looking at her with confused looks etched on their faces.

"Sorry, what?" Ariel asked.

"You're 16—it's the last chance we'll have to celebrate one of our sisters' coming of age. Since you're an adult, _you_ get to decide where we're going first," Andrea said excitedly.

She was unbearably sore.

Her sisters' definition of "a girl's day" consisted of more swimming around and talking than anything else She loved them, of course, but it was hard to be close when she was hiding such a big secret. Her father made it quite clear that if anyone, even her sisters, found out, her punishments would leave her so badly off that she wouldn't be able to move, and she was afraid the punishment might even extend to her sisters. That was not something she would ever risk.

Alicia and Alexa really wanted to go to a haunted gallows, but by this time it was almost 12:00, and they were supposed to be up in six hours. Ariel pointed this out quietly to them. "Come on, Ari, who cares about Daddy? You're in your rebellious teenage years!" Abigail cajoled.

"Guys, this has been one of the best days of my life, and I'm completely grateful to all of you for making it happen," Ariel said truthfully. "But I'm just really tired. You go on. Really, I'm good."

Her sisters let out disappointed sighs but recovered their enthusiasm soon enough, leaving Ariel alone. Once they were well out of sight, Ariel glanced around carefully and started towards her cave.

The entrance was hidden beneath a sunken ship where Ariel had discovered it about a year ago, when the beatings started becoming much more severe. It was rather small, only a few square meters, but it didn't matter because she would be the only person ever to visit it.

She went here to tend to all of her injuries and for some alone time when she needed it. She stored a few rolls of bandages, some cleaning solvent, and anything especially private here. By now she was an expert at cleaning and bandaging and had packaged her wounds neatly in only a minute. Satisfied, she swam up to another cave that was about half a mile away, one that had water but was also half filled with air. She pulled herself up onto a ledge and peered above the sea through a small hole in the cave roof.

Her father had decreed a law against going above the surface, of which breaking was punishable by death. Perhaps that was why she had always been fascinated with humans. Of course, she'd never seen one, but the paintings that she'd found in shipwrecks fascinated her immensely. She unconsciously touched her tail, imagining legs and feet.

Ariel was snapped out of her daydream by a loud explosion. She panicked for a moment, searching for the source of the noise before realizing it came from above.

It was a ship.


	3. When Can I See You

_Warning for this chapter; violence, but not explicit._

_Please review._

* * *

><p>He was like a bad song, stuck in her stupid daydreaming head.<p>

Eric.

Eric.

Eric Eric Eric Eric.

_Stop it_, she told herself.

_Eric, _her heart repeated.

"_When can I see you again?"_

He wanted to see her again. He liked her. Maybe he loved her.

For the next day and half, whenever she wasn't studying or doing another time consuming princess activity, she thought of him. The problem was that nothing could ever happen. He would find out that she was a mermaid, her father would find out, and she would die. Nonetheless, she found herself lost in a fantasy where she was with Eric, and her father never hurt her, and her mother was alive, and Eric loved her. Eric Eric Eric Eric Eric Eric.

She didn't even know him, but he just seemed so perfect.

She glided into her room and flopped on her bed, and the sound of crinkling paper as she did so crushed her entire world.

_No. Please. Not so soon._

She rolled over and picked it up. It was her father's handwriting.

_Confuto Antrum. 5:30._

He had never done it after only two days. Five was the shortest. Her wounds had barely started to heal. So far she had no scars (mermaids healed better than any other creature) but if it was bad tonight, that might change.

Confuto Antrum was pretty close to the surface, but extremely far away from her safe and secure cave.

She wanted to cry, but it seemed she had run out of tears.

* * *

><p>He was there before her. "You're late. That is unacceptable," he told her, his lip curling in loathing.<p>

She wasn't.

_Christ._

He recited Ariel's "crimes" again in that icy voice of his.

"_You are guilty of the worst crime that can be committed in the sea…but as you are my own daughter, I cannot bring myself to sentence you to death, nor do you deserve such a light and painless punishment—" _

Sure, her mother had been killed by a shark. Sure, she died in front of Ariel's crib from injuries sustained by the fight. Sure, it was a horrible death, and Ariel felt strongly for her. But her whole life was destined to be hell.

She was shaking again as he reached behind him for the horribly familiar whip. But he didn't take out the whip. Instead he took out two puffy black objects and put them on his hands. As he came closer, Ariel realized that the gloves were studded with metal.

"Please, Dad…" The words slipped out of her mouth, and she knew that she had only made it worse.

"Don't you dare say that to me. You deserve this." His voice was like a whisper. "Tell me that you deserve it."

She hated him.

"I…"

_Deserve. This._

"I…I…"

She couldn't make herself say it. Why couldn't she make herself say it?

_Damn my pride._

She was crumpled into a ball even before the first blow.

* * *

><p>She couldn't move.<p>

She couldn't breathe.

It was obvious why he'd chosen Confuto Antrum. The cave was made up of a weird spongy material that absorbed all sound.

Ariel stretched out a hand to a nearby rock and wondered how long he had hit her after she was unconscious. The pain hammered into her entire upper body, where he kept the blows isolated to. She barely able to pull herself up without seeing stars. The floor of the cave was splattered with…she couldn't look at it.

She couldn't swim. She tried dozens of times and earned only agony. She used her arms instead, grabbing onto rocks and propelling herself forward. This method was much less pain-inducing, but more tiring.

Ariel finally made it out of the cave and looked desperately through half closed eyes at her surroundings. She spotted another cave-looking structure and screamed as she was forced to swim towards it.

Her heart broke as she realized that the cave was partially above water. She dragged herself onto it and almost blacked out from the effort, floating on top of the water.

"Hey!"

She recognized the voice as Eric's and wanted to make herself invisible.

After a few seconds of splashing, he broke the surface of the water in the cave.

"Oh God, oh no, what happened?" His voice cracked on the last two words.

"Please," she breathed. "Don't tell…aah…please."

"But-you-you're hurt. You'll die. I have to go get help."

"If you tell…I will be hu—MMPH—far worse."

She saw him nod, and relief swept through her despite everything else that had happened.

She couldn't feel the pain anymore, and was almost grateful for the wave of nothingness that extinguished her.


	4. Unexpected

He was like a bad song, stuck in her stupid daydreaming head.

Eric.

Eric.

Eric Eric Eric Eric.

_Stop it_, she told herself.

_Eric, _her heart repeated.

_"__When can I see you again?"_

He wanted to see her again. He liked her. Maybe he loved her.

For the next day and half, whenever she wasn't studying or doing another time consuming princess activity, she thought of him. The problem was that nothing could ever happen. He would find out that she was a mermaid, her father would find out, and she would die. Nonetheless, she found herself lost in a fantasy where she was with Eric, and her father never hurt her, and her mother was alive, and Eric loved her. Eric Eric Eric Eric Eric Eric.

She didn't even know him that well, but he just seemed so perfect. He cared about every living thing around him.

She glided into her room and flopped on her bed, and the sound of crinkling paper as she did so crushed her entire world.

_No. Not so soon._

She rolled over and picked it up. It was her father's handwriting.

_Confuto Antrum. 5:30._

He had never done it after only three days. Five was the shortest. Her wounds had barely started to heal. So far she had no lasting damage to her muscles or bones but if it was bad tonight, that might change.

Confuto Antrum was pretty close to the surface, but extremely far away from her safe and secure cave.

She wanted to cry, but it seemed she had run out of tears.

He was there before her. "You're late. That is unacceptable," he told her, his lip curling in loathing.

She wasn't.

_Christ._

He recited Ariel's "crimes" again in that icy voice of his.

_"__You are guilty of the worst crime that can be committed in the sea…"_

She was shaking again as he reached behind him for the horribly familiar whip. But he didn't take out the whip. Instead he took out two puffy black objects and put them on his hands. As he came closer, Ariel realized that the gloves were studded with metal.

"Please, Dad…" The words slipped out of her mouth, and she knew that she had only made it worse.

"I am not your father, and don't you dare say that to me. You deserve this." His voice was like a whisper. "Tell me that you deserve it."

She hated him.

"I…"

_Deserve. This._

"I…I…"

She couldn't make herself say it. Why couldn't she make herself say it?

_Damn my pride._

She was crumpled into a ball even before the first blow.

…..

She couldn't move.

She couldn't breathe.

It was obvious why he'd chosen Confuto Antrum so often. The cave was made up of a weird spongy material that absorbed all sound and echoes.

Ariel stretched out a hand to a nearby rock and wondered how long he had hit her after she was unconscious. The pain hammered into her entire upper body, where he kept the blows isolated to. She barely able to pull herself up without seeing stars. The floor of the cave was darkening red around her.

She swam desperately slowly out of the cave, her vision turning blacker every second. She dimly realized she wasn't going to make it back to her cave and settled for another one nearby.

The interior looked familiar and she recognized it as her observing place for humans. She dragged herself onto it and almost blacked out from the effort, floating on top of the water. _Breathe. In, out. In—_

"Hello?"

She recognized the voice as Eric's and wanted to die.

"Is someone down there?"

His boots slipped through the hole in the cave, followed by the rest of him. His inquisitive look turned into one of horror as he noticed her

"Oh God, oh no, what happened? I have to get help." His voice cracked.

"No," she breathed. "Don't tell…aah…please."

"But-you-you're hurt. You'll die. I have to go get help."

"No one can know. P-promissse…"

She saw him nod, and relief swept through her despite everything else that had happened.

She couldn't feel the pain anymore, and was almost grateful for the wave of nothingness that extinguished her.


End file.
